Manufacturing job fair file photo by Frank Lopez

On Friday, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced updates regarding vaccination, masking, isolation and quarantine for several state public health officer orders.

The updates come as California and the rest of the country enters a fourth year of the pandemic.

CDPH advises California residents to use COVID-19 resources that are still available to everyone at low or no cost including testing, vaccines and treatment.

 “We stand before Californians today with a humble message of thanks for taking the hard steps to help manage COVID-19, and with an ongoing commitment to be prepared for what comes next,” stated CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón. “Our communities did a lot of the hard work by getting vaccinated and boosted, staying home and testing when sick, requesting treatments when positive, and masking to slow the spread. With these critical actions, and a lot of patience and persistence, we have now reached a point where we can update some of the COVID-19 guidance to continue to balance prevention and adapting to living with COVID-19.”

CDPH is making changes to the existing COVID-19 guidance, which will allow local health departments and health care facilities to develop and implement plans customized to the needs and local conditions of their establishments and communities. 

• Masking in high-risk and health care settings: Beginning April 3, masks will no longer be required in indoor high-risk and health care settings. This includes health care, long-term care and corrections facilities as well as homeless, emergency and warming and cooling centers.
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• Vaccine requirements for health care workers: Beginning April 3, the state will no longer require vaccination for health care workers including those in adult care, direct care, correctional facilities and detention centers.
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• Reduced isolation time after positive COVID-19 test: Beginning March 13, a COVID-19 positive individual may end isolation after five days if they feel well, have improving symptoms and are fever-free for 24 hours, with less emphasis on testing negative. This change aligns with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations.
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• Disease control and prevention order: Beyond the Blueprint, the former state public health officer order, is being updated to align with CDPH’s isolation and quarantine recommendations and includes an updated definition for a confirmed COVID-19 case. Effective March 13, the updated order will provide prevention and mitigation strategies for slowing the spread of COVID-19 after the broad use of vaccinations and treatments.
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• Hospital surge order: Effective April 3, CDPH will rescind an order that required hospitals statewide to accept transfer patients from facilities with limited ICU capacity. ICU capacity has not been limited during recent covid-19 surges after the use of vaccines and treatments.
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• Vaccine data collection: Effective April 3, an order that required providers to ask patients for their email addresses and/or mobile phone numbers when receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is being rescinded. New legislation requires California health care providers administering vaccines to enter information about patients, including telephone numbers and race and ethnicity.

 

Additionally, underutilized emergency COVID-19 supports across the state have begun to wind down, including state-funded testing and test-to-treat sites, vaccine staff, outbreak response teams, mobile vaccine units and pop-up vaccination events. 

Other impacts to public health programs and initiatives include:

• Reduced state support for local contact tracing efforts
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• Fewer staffing flexibility for hospitals and nursing homes
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• End of reduced training and certification requirements for certified nursing assistants and home health aides
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• Ending the expedited license processing for facilities performing COVID-19 tests

 

The state has worked with the California Legislature to extend two authorities, including nurses to continue to dispense COVID-19 therapeutics as part of a state-run test-to-treat program and clarifying who can possess COVID-19 laboratory tests. This legislation was signed March 2.